One of Spain's foremost leading ladies of the 1990s, Penelope Cruz has managed to make her mark with international audiences as well. Born in Madrid on April 28, 1974, Cruz was one of three children of a merchant and a hairdresser. After years of intensive study in ballet and jazz, she broke into acting in 1992. That year, she had starring roles in Jam󮠊am󮠡nd Belle Epoque, two very disparate films. The former cast her as the desperately poor daughter of a village prostitute, while the latter featured her as one of four lusty daughters of a wealthy man in pre-Franco Spain. Belle Epoque proved to be a huge success, winning nine Goya Awards (the Spanish equivalent of an Academy Award) and an Oscar for Best Foreign Film. Its success gave Cruz a dose of international recognition, and after starring in a number of Spanish films, she enhanced this recognition in 1997 with the Sundance entry Abre los Ojos. That same year, she had a brief but memorable role in Pedro Almod󶡲's Carne Tr魵la.

In 1998, Cruz had her first starring role in an English language film, playing Billy Crudup's Mexican-American love interest in Stephen Frears' The Hi-Lo Country. She had another go at English later that year in the Spanish-British romantic comedy Twice Upon a Yesterday, which cast her as a Spanish barmaid living in London. In 1999, she returned to Spain to collaborate once again with Almod󶡲 on Todo Sobre Mi Madre, a wildly acclaimed film that premiered at Cannes that year.

The next two years would prove to be a critical turning point in both Cruz's personal and professional life, with increasingly visible roles in large-scale Hollywood productions as well as a developing relationship with one Tinseltown's most popular leading men. Gaining notice for her roles in All the Pretty Horses in 2000 and Blow the following year, it appeared as if Cruz's career had suddenly kicked into overdrive. After starring alongside Nicholas Cage in Captain Corelli's Mandolin in 2001, Cruz dove back into familiar territory with director Cameron Crowe's re-make of Abre Los Ojos, Vanilla Sky (2001). Developing a close relationship with lead Tom Cruise as his much publicized break-up with Nichole Kidman drew to a close, the pair soon found themselves the center of considerable speculation as rumors flew and they soon became Hollywood's hottest new couple.

--Rebecca Flint, All Movie Guide